Assessing the Family Goals Strengths and Needs

Statement of purpose/intent
This piece is dedicated to examining the different challenges Jimmy and his family are going through. The objective is to identify the family and mental disorders present in each of the members and a suggestion at the appropriate treatment methods. As a Case manager the objective would be to recommend the best process aimed at achieving this goal. The greatest challenge is to identify what is ailing each family member and to fashion a pathway towards helping each member and the family as a whole endure their situation. This research recommends ways of handling the different situations with the hope that an expected outcome is achieved.
* Assess the goals, strengths and needs of this family
Family Goals: The priority at this moment is to get some professional help, first for Jimmy and then for Linda, his biological mother. There is enough evidence to the effect that Jimmy is suffering from the consequences of an unstable parenting. Linda has become an absent mother dealing with even bigger problems. Jimmy is struggling with a history of poor parenting that has made him a very unstable kid. He needs a lot of psychiatric attention and counseling to get him back to normalcy.
According to Sammi, Jimmy needs to spend more time with the mother. She probably thinks that this will solve the problem. Warren on the other hand understands that more visiting time between Jimmy and his mother Linda will probably not solve anything. This is because Linda is struggling with a bigger problem i.e. drug abuse, unstable and abusive relationships and lack of a stable income due to unemployment. It would be difficult for Jimmy to get any positive influence from his biological mother.
Strengths: Jimmy seems to enjoy friendship with Cara, his half-sister. It is also a good thing that Jimmy does not live with his biological mother. It also appears that Jimmy is more accepting of Warren and Sammi as his parents than he is willing to accept Linda as a mother. This has exposed Jimmy to some positive influence. Warren and Sammi also have a stable marriage unlike the previous marriage where a lot of partying was involved. It would appear that Jimmy’s parents really want to find help for Jimmy. This is a good thing as well.
Needs of the Family: Warren and Sammi seem to differ a lot on Jimmy’s behavior and the kind of assistance he should get. This is notwithstanding the fact that the relationship between them is described as very good. They spend adequate time together as a family and have commonality of interests. According to Sammi, Jimmy should spend more time with Linda, his biological mother. Sammi is really pushing for this relationship although the timing may not actually be right for these reasons; Jimmy may end up getting more frustrated with poor parenting since Linda is still struggling with a poor and abusive relationship. She is unemployed and is still struggling with cocaine and alcohol use. Linda even admits that she is very poor as a mother.
This family needs a lot of therapy and counseling. Linda must get rehabilitation and relationship counseling to help deal with her alcohol and cocaine addiction and assist her become stable in handling herself and her relationships. She also needs a lot of parenting lessons before she can be allowed to be anywhere near Jimmy. Warren and Sammi have shown better parenting and stability in their marriage. This is where Jimmy should be. The parents need more counseling on handling Jimmy with an objective of helping him get over a history of poor parenting. After Linda has successfully dealt with her addiction and relationship issues she can be allowed some time with Jimmy in order to develop a healthy mother-son relationship.
* Identify possible mental health disorders evident in this family
Jimmy
Jimmy may be dealing with these mental health problems:
Antisocial Personality Disorders (ASPD): Sociopathy or ASPD is a mental health disorder where a person demonstrates poor consideration for what is right or wrong and consistently ignores the feelings and rights of others (Rotgers & Maniacci, 2006). People suffering ASPD will often antagonize others and try to manipulate them. They do not have remorse or guilt for their behavior. Often such people will dishonor authority. They could lie, be impulsive or engage in violent behavior (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health., 2010).
Some of the indicators that someone could be suffering ASPD include: Contempt for right and wrong, being disrespectful, cynical and callous, pathological lying or deceitful behavior for the purpose of exploiting others, arrogance, superiority mindset, and being excessively opinionated, using wit to influence other people for selfish gain, criminal behavior, violation of other people’s rights through dishonesty and intimidation, hostility, agitation, irritability, violence and aggression, absence of remorse and empathy for others, dangerous behavior without concern for personal safety, lack of cognizance for the negative consequences of caused by their behavior and an inability to learn from their own mistakes, consistent irresponsibility and a failure to comply with financial or work obligations (Mayo Clinic, 2018).
Conduct disorders is also present with children suffering ASPD. Symptoms of conduct disorder include serious and obstinate behavior problems including: acute dishonor of rules, theft, deceit, property destruction, and aggression to objects and people. ASPD is often considered lifelong although victims might stop criminal or destructive behavior with time. It is not known whether the healing that comes with age is due to increase in awareness of the repercussions involved.
Describing Jimmy’s behavior
In the case of Jimmy it has been established that he suffers from mood swings. One moment he is happy and engaging and the next moment he gets angry, defiant and at times violent. Jimmy has been shown to have poor social skills and an inability to keep friends at school. According to his teachers, Jimmy has a problem with being attentive and settled in class as well. He also defies instructions such as refusal to do homework and occasionally argues with the teachers. Even when Jimmy’s parents withdrew privileges from him he still doesn’t bring himself to controlling his behavior.
When he first held a session at the local mental health center Jimmy showed a lot of dishonor. At one point he was asked not to touch anything else but the toys in the room. Instead of playing with the toys he went ahead and poured pens from the manager’s desk to the floor. He then refused to pick the pens up when asked to. Jimmy also struggles with temper. Simple things like disliking his dinner will get him angry. His violence often gets out of hand. He throws objects around carelessly hitting objects onto other people, the wall and even himself. His parents will occasionally have to hold him back to protect him from harming himself or other people. The tantrums can stay for hours. He may even tire himself from his aggressive behavior. All these are symptoms and signs of someone suffering ASPD. These problems with Jimmy can be traced to a history of poor parenting.
Anger disorders, aggression disorders, suicidal mentality disorders, and ASPD may be the problems Jimmy is dealing with currently.
Linda may be suffering from:
Substance Use Disorders (SUD): This condition involves use of substances that could result to clinical distress or impairment. Substances of use in this case entail psychoactive drugs (Douaihy & Daley, 2014). Dependence and addiction are characteristic of disorders involved with substance abuse. Addiction is a harsh consequence of the disorder. Some of the behaviors demonstrated by people suffering SUD include:
Social Impairment: This may entail occasional absence from work, neglect of children, failure to take care of household obligations, performance issues etc. Issues of arguments and loss of friendships may also come up (Douaihy & Daley, 2014). An addict can also lose interest in important recreational and social activities following the abuse.
Impaired control: Extended substance use may make it hard to stop due to addiction. SUD cause a drug user to spend more time in recovery and craving for more. The intense urge to get more makes it hard to even concentrate on other important aspects of life (Douaihy & Daley, 2014).
Obsessive use: Addiction is demonstrated when someone feels the urge to use drugs even when their physical situation is quite dangerous, for instance, the urge to take alcohol while driving. Addicts will continue using drugs even though they are aware their psychological and physical conditions are worsening (Chih-Jui & Walker, 2016). For instance a person suffering liver failure may continue doing drugs despite the risks involved.
Personality Disorder: This is a mental disorder where a person demonstrated unhealthy and rigid behavior, functioning and thinking patterns. People suffering personality disorder find it difficult to relate and perceive people and situations. This may result to serious problems and limit relationships, work, school and social activities. It may be difficult to notice personality disorder in oneself since the behavior and thought patterns seems natural. People with personality disorders tend to blame others rather than themselves. Personality disorders are of different forms.
Describing Linda’s behavior
Linda is probably suffering from addiction issues. She neglected her marriage instead choosing a life of partying, alcohol and drug abuse. She is also a self-confessed poor parent. Linda is also in an abusive relationship. She is also unemployed probably because of her inability to commit to work obligations. She seems to have abandoned Jimmy owing to her SUD. She is in need of rehabilitation and counseling.
Linda may be suffering from personality disorders as well. This might be the reason she is unable to sustain a relationship with Jimmy, her own son.
* Develop a list of referrals for services you would make for each of the members in this family
Referrals:
Jimmy: In order to help Jimmy improve his physical and mental wellbeing I recommend some therapy for him. Psychotherapy is a treatment option aimed at helping people deal with their mental health conditions, such as personality disorders. This therapy helps patients through encouraging them to air out their feelings, mood, thoughts, behavior, and conditions. I recommend this for Jimmy:
· Family therapy
· Aggression therapy
· Behavior modification therapy
· Cognitive therapy treatment
· ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) therapy
Linda: Linda needs a comprehensive drug therapy. She requires psychotherapeutic or medical treatment to cure her dependence on substance on alcohol and cocaine. The objective is to allow her to face her dependence problem and stop drug abuse. Ultimately Linda should be able to alleviate any physical, social, legal, psychological, or financial consequences likely to emanate from extreme abuse. She might require some counseling and medication as well. This is what I recommend for Linda:
· Drug therapy/rehabilitation
· Drug abuse Counseling
· Psychotherapy
· Relationship counseling
· Parenting Counseling
Warren and Sammi: This couple requires some marriage counseling to help them deal with their family situation. Jimmy and Cara are two children who find themselves in a family situation where they both have different fathers and mothers. In order to manage this family Warren and Jimmy need some joint sessions in:
· Family therapy
· Relationship counseling
· Parenting
· Psychotherapy
* Suggest goals for this family
The goal of this family must be to grow together as one unit despite their past. Warren and Sammi must realize they both have a history in broken marriage and they must be careful not to inflict distress on Jimmy and Cara. Instead, they must purpose to raise these two kids as their own. The primary goal is to get Jimmy urgent therapeutic help in order to correct his psychological condition. Sammi must seize pushing Jimmy to his broken mother, Linda, but instead accept her role as a parent to Jimmy. Sammi needs to realize that Linda cannot offer anything positive for Jimmy at the moment.
Warren must also help fill the void that was left by Cara’s father by being the father in the house for both Cara and Jimmy. Even though Linda will not seize to be part of the family their priority must be to give both their children a decent life.
Linda must also be willing to get help and get back to building a relationship with Jimmy. Otherwise Jimmy might grow to resent his family and become a hopeless person in life. All the parties to this family must do their part. The main goal is to give Jimmy and Cara a deserved childhood with adequate parenting. The adults i.e. Warren, Sammi and Linda must agree not to destabilize the growth of their children due to their relationship and addiction issues.
* Explain your role as a case manager in working with this family, including how you would arrange and coordinate services for the family
My responsibility is to identify the problem ailing this family and to recommend the best treatment for every condition. At this moment it has been established that Jimmy and his mother Linda need therapeutic treatment as a priority. This is how I would arrange and coordinate services to the family.
To begin with I would get Jimmy to a children’s therapeutic center and take him through a guided process in Aggression therapy, Behavior modification therapy, Cognitive therapy treatment, and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) therapy. The expected outcome is to have Jimmy develop an ability to control his behavior and show moderation in building relationships with others.
Linda requires urgent drug therapy. My objective would be to take Linda to a drug rehabilitation center. The objective is to take her through a program entailing the following: Drug therapy/rehabilitation, Drug abuse Counseling, Psychotherapy Relationship counseling and Parenting Counseling. The expected outcome is a Linda free of addiction. She should regain her ability to lead a normal social life and get actively involved in the life of Jimmy, her son. Drug therapy, relationship counseling and parenting counseling should be at the center of Linda’s treatment journey.
Warren and Sammi appear to have a fairly stable relationship save for their differences with the issues with Jimmy. I would take this couple to therapy sessions on parenting, relationship and family counseling. It cannot be forgotten that both of them are recovering from broken marriages. They need some lessons on relationships and psychotherapy to deal with any personality disorder issues.
* Describe how you would monitor care and progress towards goals for this family.
Jimmy is the priority in the family. I would dedicate most of my attention in making sure Jimmy shows some behavior improvements. For the purpose of monitoring progress for the entire family I would have benchmarking sessions with each person with an objective of assessing their standing in the process. Jimmy would require a lot of assessment to see how he behaves under different environments throughout the therapy process. He requires gradual lessons to help him modify behavior. To measure progress I would have Jimmy take instructions from his parents and also expose him in an environment with kids to see whether his interpersonal skills are improving.
Linda progress will be monitored by frequently testing her for cocaine and alcohol. Reduced levels of substance in her body would be an indication of gradual improvement. Health checkups would also reveal progress in her drug management process. Over time Linda will be allowed to visit with Jimmy and have them take counseling sessions together to help them build a relationship. The end goal is to have Linda stop doing drugs and become a better parent to Jimmy. In the process Linda will also be counseled on relationships. The outcome expected from Linda’s therapy is stability in parenting, seizing from drug use and a healthy social life, including getting a day job and ability to deliver herself out of an abusive relationship.
Warren and Sammi progress will be monitored by examining how they handle their relationship and their two children, Jimmy and Cara. The goal with this couple is to help them deal with their past broken relationship and also assist them with lessons to handle their current family situation better. Indicators of progress would be how they treat each other and how they view both their children.





References
Chih-Jui, H. R., & Walker, Leslie, R. (2016). Substance use disorders. Pennsylvania: Elsevier
Douaihy, A., & Daley, D. C. (2014). Substance use disorders. Substance use disorders. New York, NY, US: Oxford University Press
Mayo Clinic (2018). Antisocial personality disorder, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). Retrieved 13, February, 2018 from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/antisocial-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353928
National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health. (2010). Antisocial Personality Disorder: Treatment, Management and Prevention. Antisocial Personality Disorder: Treatment, Management and Prevention (p. 360). 
Rotgers, F., & Maniacci, M. P. (2006). Antisocial personality disorder: A practitioner's guide to comparative treatments. New York: Springer Pub.